A friend of mine opened his wife’s underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:

“This,” he said, “Isn’t any ordinary package.”

He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

“She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on, was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is it.”

He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house.

His wife had just died.

He turned to me and said, “Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion.”

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through.

I no longer keep anything.

I use crystal glasses every day.

I’ll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it.

I don’t save my special perfume for special occasions; I use it whenever I want to.

The words ‘Someday’ and ‘One Day’ are fading away from my dictionary.

If it’s worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.

I don’t know what my friend’s wife would have done if she knew she wouldn’t be here the next morning. This nobody can tell.

I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.

She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels.

I’d like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food.

It’s these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

Live for today, for tomorrow is promised to no one.

Thanks for passing this on to me, Roger.

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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